Justification By Faith, Free Online Course 1, Lesson 2
Justification By Faith, Free Online Course 1, Lesson 2
The Eclipse Of The Doctrine
The second and third centuries did bring up many conflicts doctrinal matters, but these were generally connected with the Lord Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Accepting the doctrine of Trinity (which includes accepting the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit as co-equal and co-eternal with the Father) was a problem for Pagan religions, and people who came to the Christian faith from such backgrounds did create much problem about these truths. Several Church Councils had to be called to collectively proclaim the right doctrines.
Again no substantial question came up about the doctrine of justification during this period because the doctrine was more or less clear to the Bible teachers of these eras. Eventually the Roman Emperor Constantine "converted" to the Christian "religion" in the fourth century, and there started the eclipsing of all major doctrines.
Every religion in the world teachers that man needs to labour hard, all his life, to receive salvation. The Bible is the only exception because its emphasizes salvation by grace, not by works. This is totally opposed to all pagan thinking, and thus any pagan influence obscures the doctrine of grace-based salvation in the first place. As a consequence, the gross paganization of the Christian Faith under the Roman Christianity immediately obscured the clear and simple doctrine of salvation by grace through faith. Justification by faith no longer had the central position in Christian pulpit it had enjoyed so far.
After Romanization of the Church, the next development was the control of the Roman Bishop over the whole of Christendom. Many treacherous and curios political, ecclesiastical, and personal battles were fought by the Roman Bishop and his cronies for this control. Eventually through a combination of deception and clever manipulation, the Bishop of Rome [the Pope] rose to become the human lord over almost the whole of Christendom. This was a battle for fame, power, and money and not doctrine, for pure doctrine does not guarantee these things. And once the power came into his hand, the Roman Bishop or Pope and the Roman Church did everything possible to consolidated and keep that power concentrated in their hands. The first requirement for this was the development of a theology and a "religion" that was totally man-centric and work-centric instead of God-centric and grace-centric. The purpose was to enslave people, not to liberate.
Gradually a doctrine of work-based salvation was developed, taught and imposed upon the Christian church. Additions were made as and when possible or needed so as to imply that the "Church" controlled the gateway to salvation. So much so that even after a person’s departure his soul was said to have gone to a place called purgatory. The relatives of a dead man had to keep on giving alms to the priests so that their dead forefather could escape the oppressive confines of purgatory and move to heaven.
Since God inspired the Bible in the common man’s language, and since a diligent reading of the Bible would tell people about salvation and justification based upon the grace-faith system, the Roman Church also invented methods to keep the Bible away from the masses. All liturgy was shifted to languages not understood by the ’sheep’, translation of the Bible was not allowed in the common man’s language, and eventually the Roman Catholic church placed the Bible on the official list of "Forbidden Books". Severe punishment, imprisonment, and even confiscation of property was common if the Bible or a portion of it was discovered in any Roman Catholic home.
The Roman Catholics oppressed and even killed many for translating or for possessing the Bible. So enraged were they with William Tyndale for his Bible Translation that finally when they ware able to lay their hands upon his grave, they exhumed Tyndale’s bones and burnt in public to make an example of those who dared to defy the dictates of the Roman Catholic Church.
Rediscovery Of The Doctrine: The doctrine of Justification By Faith was taught by many small groups worldwide in spite of Catholic suppression. Church history tells that a faithful remnant was always active in spite of the eclipse of doctrine.
The Catholic Church mercilessly chased and persecuted these smaller reform movements, suppressed them in every possible way, but they could not eliminate truth altogether. On the other hand, this violence ensured that these movements that held on to these Biblical truths did not become mass-movements.
The "Dark Ages" are known to all students of history. The Roman Catholic Church ruled much of the Christian world with an iron hand. Possessing or even reading the Bible was made a crime. Freethinking and dissent was made a crime. Obviously, very few dared to step out of the boundaries drawn by the Romish Church. Yet many curious minds eventually laid their hands upon the Bible. Many began to read the Bible, specially the books of the New Testament, in secret. This opened their eyes to many fundamental doctrinal truths, though only in an outline form. One of these men was Philip Melancthon. He wrote and spoke about God’s justification which was available freely to all. (Presumably he did have access to the writings of the Remnant, which helped him to better grasp the Biblical truth).
Philip Melancthon’s writings in turn touched Martin Luther a highly learned Roman Catholic monk. For years he had been reading the New Testament and fundamental doctrinal truths were gradually becoming clear to him. He knew the Roman Catholic dogma was all man-made humbug and an outright pagan system meant only for the exploitation of the laity by the all-powerful priestly class. As he kept discovering New Testament doctrines one by one, his restlessness and yearning to know the full and complete truth only kept increasing. He longed to discover the unifying thread behind all these doctrines. Finally as he was studying the Epistle to Romans, he was stuck by the insight that "Being Justified by Faith" is the key that united and revealed the fundamental doctrinal truths.
Soon he proclaimed this doctrine from the pulpit, and this Biblical insight spread among people like wild-fire. "You shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free" was visible to anyone who observed the spiritual awakening that spread rapidly in Europe.
The rest is well-known history. The Roman Catholic Church tried to suppress the Reformation with every tactic known to a conniving manipulator, and every tool of torture which a sadist can contrive. Yet the Protestant Reformation kept growing, and with that the doctrinal affirmation of "Justification By Faith" (Sola Fide in Latin) reached all the continents.
Post Reformation Developments: Though all doctrines are spelled out clearly in the Scriptures, not all doctrines are always clearly understood by people. Part of the reason is the way God has spread these truth throughout the Bible.
No Bible doctrine is ever introduced or explained in its totality in one place in the Bible. On the contrary, important statements are spread by God into many locations throughout the Old and New Testament. Thus all the verses related to a given topic have to be collected, classified and interpreted before a doctrinal topic can be understood clearly. This takes time and effort.
Since much systematic work is needed to define and expound any doctrine, the human understanding of any doctrine grows only gradually and in steps. Thus though the original Protestant Reformation brought people back to the fundamentals, it took many more years (and even some more Reformations of lesser scope had to take place) for further clarification and refinement in the understanding of many of these doctrines.
The rise of the Baptist Churches and the Presbyterian Churches, and the systematic work by their scholars further clarified many key doctrines, such as the doctrines related to the Inerrancy, and Infallibility of the Holy Scripture. The pinnacle of these Reformations was what is today known as the Plymouth Brethren movement.
The Plymouth Brethren movement started among the High Anglicans in England around the mid 1800s. Around 1890 a similar movement of the Holy Spirit took place independently in India, mostly among the Mar Thomaite, Jacobite, and Roman Catholic adherents. Eventually the believers from both of these movements recognized that they have the same doctrinal conviction, and thus they recognized each others as one and the same movement, later called the Plymouth Brethren.
Men in this group were dedicated Bible-students and they established doctrines based strictly on the protocols of the Bible interpretation, which in turn resulted in a worldwide emphasis on correct interpretation of the Bible. A large number of interpreters and theologians worldwide made a substantial contribution to restating Biblical doctrines accurately in common man’s language. There were many other connected activities also, and together they played an important role in the revival and rise of conservative Christianity. This also was the era when the doctrine of Justification By Faith received further clarification and restatement.
Today the fruits of the Protestant Reformation, which reached its pinnacle in the Plymouth Brethren Movement, are in front of us. The fundamental doctrines are available in every man’s language in an accessible manner.
Justification By Faith, Free Online Course 1, Lesson 2
The Eclipse Of The Doctrine
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